おいしい / Oishi (Delicious)

Hmmm, what to have? It all looks so good!

After tramping up and down through Ginza with its huge stores, and then getting our train pass vouchers turned into train passes, making our first few trains reservations, getting our subway passes, etc. etc., all in heavy rain, we were ready for a bit of a sit down and something small and nourishing.

We ventured into the Marunouchi Building, which apparently was the first in the world to incorporate shops with businesses (in the 1920s) and is now a vertical mall with the top floors dedicated to restaurants and cafes. We found a little soba café on the roof, with a wonderful view down to the imposing brick train station. Or it would have been a great view if not for the rain which was almost snow.

Everything was in Japanese characters and we started to plan how we'd ask for soba on its own, when we found a small card with photos, including one with a bowl of something brown on rice in combination with another bowl with soba noodles in a dark broth. That picture told us all we needed.

Soba noodles are made with buckwheat, and are generally thin, like spaghetti. Served hot or cold, they are robust and hold their shape. There was no question this was a day I needed something hot! Martin was happy enough with his hot, breaded pork cutlet piled on rice with fried egg dotted around. We always feel triumphant when we are able to get something not only edible but what we want when deciphering another language, especially one that deals with characters instead of letters. Thank goodness for photos.